Political scientist, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante has disagreed with assertions that if the former Trades Minister, Alan Kyerematen runs as an independent candidate, he will be a third force.

This, he explained is because he doubts the likelihood of having a third force in the country’s politics any time soon, adding that “It will take a very long time” for that to be possible.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, he said although he can cause a stir in the election process by depriving a particular party of winning or causing a run-off, it is not possible for him to win.

Dr Asah-Asante’s comments come after political analyst, Dr. Kobby Mensah, suggested that should Mr Kyerematen decide to run as an independent candidate, he will be a formidable third force following his withdrawal from the NPP flagbearership race on Tuesday, September 5.

Dr. Mensah shared the view that Mr Kyerematen could win the support of Ghanaians who have become disenchanted with the political duopoly of the NPP and NDC.

He noted that unlike other smaller parties and their often not-widely-known candidates, Alan Kyerematen’s political profile is well-known across the country and he enjoys considerable goodwill from Ghanaians.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, he said, “The country itself, I mean, you hear quite a lot of people unhappy with what you call the duopoly where you have the NDC and NPP changing the baton every now and then and so most people have actually expressed that kind of opinion that there must be a third force.

“In the past whenever we have had a certain third force, it hadn’t naturally been to the level where you think they can wrestle power. Obviously, we had Abu Sakara being a very formidable candidate for CPP, and at some point, we had Papa Kwesi Nduom for CPP as well. Very formidable.

“But they couldn’t actually make the kind of impact that we thought. Papa Kwesi Nduom went on to establish the PPP and still could not actually make the kind of impact that we were expecting.”

Also the Executive Director and Head of Polling at Global Info Analytics, Dr Musah Dankwah, has stated that should Mr Kyerematen decide to go independent, there is the possibility of him being the kingmaker.

But the political scientist has shared a contrary view on the matter.

According to Dr Asah-Asante, research has shown that from 1992, this has not materialised. "We did a search from 1992 up to the 2020 election and if you put all the small political parties together, the y are average, they have not gone beyond four per cent. 

"So it doesn’t matter how (much) giant you are, once you join that bandwagon, and you deceive yourself into believing that you will win the election, I am afraid you should think twice.”